Cody Gakpo sends message to Arne Slot over Liverpool role with honest Jurgen Klopp admission

Liverpool's new manager Arne Slot has a huge array of talent at his disposal. It speaks volumes that Cody Gakpo, now away with the Netherlands at Euro 2024, is considered in many quarters to be the fifth-choice forward.

By the end of last season, Jurgen Klopp clearly disagreed with that assessment, starting Gakpo over Darwin Nunez. But it was an up-and-down kind of campaign, one which began with an unconvincing sojourn in the Liverpool midfield.

Gakpo has now given his honest thoughts on the campaign, reflecting on Klopp's departure and his personal performance. There's an interesting message in there for Slot.

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"Different", Gakpo remarked to ESPN, when asked to assess his campaign from a personal perspective. "Some very good games, some not so really good games.

"Different positions, which I said before, sometimes it's very difficult to play. And then it also affects the goals and assists, because sometimes when you play in the midfield you have a different point of view of goals and assists than when you play up front.

"I know that I learned a lot from it, so in one way I'm happy that it happened. But yeah you always hope for the best season with 50 goals, 50 assists every trophy, so if that's not the case then you're not happy.

"I know for myself that there's so much more I can bring to the club, to the team. So yeah, can't wait to show that."

What should be clear to Slot from this is that Gakpo does not see himself as a midfielder. Klopp also consigned the experiment to the bin, in fairness, but the former Feyenoord manager should be especially aware of what his compatriot is capable of in attacking roles — having been terrorized by him during his spell at PSV.

Gakpo backs himself to be able to offer more, and Liverpool probably needs him to do so. It's yet to see the version of the winger that plundered nine goals and 12 assists in 14 games in the half-season before making the switch to Anfield.

No doubt that's partly because Klopp has rarely used him as a winger. Having shelved the midfield plan, he often played Gakpo as a center-forward, and Slot will need to give serious consideration to restoring him to a wide berth — although there is significant competition there as well, with Luis Diaz a natural on the left and both Nunez and Diogo Jota also capable of featuring there too.

Whatever he decides to do, Slot will bring a change, and that might well prove refreshing. Gakpo described the 'shock' of Klopp's departure, noting that he is the only coach some of the Liverpool players have ever known — while that leaves the biggest of boots to fill, there is some room for excitement.

Liverpool.com says: It's an interesting interview from Gakpo, who also describes how Liverpool got knocked out of the FA Cup and Europa League in 'bad' and 'strange' ways. It's clear that the players had their eyes on four prizes, and were ultimately disappointed with how the campaign fizzled out.

He's definitely right about the shock of Klopp leaving, and probably also right to imply that the German's positional tinkering made his own life at Anfield a little harder. Hopefully, Slot can find Gakpo's best role and give him a settled run there, because his potential remains sky-high.